Director of K-12, Postsecondary & Workforce Pathways

UP Partnership•San Antonio, TX

About The Position

The Director of K-12, Postsecondary & Workforce Pathways will help accelerate Bexar County’s progress toward equitable outcomes for young people by advancing strategies that strengthen educational attainment, high school completion, postsecondary access, and workforce-connected pathways across K-12, higher education, workforce, and community systems. This role leads UP Partnership’s portfolio of work focused on pathway alignment, advising systems, accelerated learning, cross-sector collaboration, and systems transformation in support of the Future Ready Bexar County Plan. The Director will oversee initiatives and partnerships designed to improve long-term student success from secondary education through postsecondary completion and entry into high-wage, high-demand careers.

Requirements

Strong Knowledge of K-12, Postsecondary, and Workforce Systems: Understanding the K-12, higher education, and workforce systems within Bexar County. This includes their institutional-level systems, policies, and the impact of local, state, and federal policies on pathway alignment.
Knowledge of Educational Attainment and Workforce Development Strategies: Understanding the evidence-based programs, policies, and transition strategies that support secondary school completion, post-secondary access, and the alignment of educational pathways with regional, high-wage workforce demands.
Is a Perceptive, Strategic Systems Thinker: Requires considering all systemic variables that have the potential to accelerate or impede the partnership's work. This involves attuning subtle influences that could derail group progress and intentionally aligning efforts to reduce fragmentation across systems.
Strong Understanding of Systems Change Networks and Collaboratives: Understanding the current context of UP Partnership’s network partners to advance cross-sector collaboration. This includes building and maintaining strategic relationships with key institutions to drive equitable outcomes and supporting the Future Ready Bexar County Plan.
Project and Grant Management: Effective project management is getting outstanding work done/achieving desired impact, on time and on budget; working through, with, and for other people, with a focus on equity and inclusion. Additionally, it includes the process of managing and tracking income and expenses, as well as overseeing portfolio budgets, forecasting, grant deliverables, reporting requirements, and resource tracking.
Facilitation and Stakeholder Engagement: The ability to convene and support cross-sector collaboratives, workgroups, and communities of practice. It involves guiding outcome-driven discussions, building strong institutional relationships, and ensuring systems change efforts are rooted in community members acting as leaders and partners.
Team Leadership and Talent Development: Building an environment of trust that fosters collaboration, setting clear performance metrics, and maintaining ownership of team culture. It includes providing coaching and professional development to team members while coordinating efforts across organizational priorities.
Data-Informed Decision Making: The ability to analyze complex regional data trends, monitor initiative progress, and leverage insights to drive continuous collaborative improvement cycles. This requires looking beyond raw numbers to understand how data impacts community-wide strategies, ensuring that programmatic decisions are explicitly aligned to achieving equitable population-level outcomes for young people across Bexar County.
Adaptive Leadership and Change Management: The ability to navigate the unknown and unpredictable nature of systems transformation. It requires entering challenging situations with flexibility and openness, guiding stakeholders through change, and maintaining alignment on shared strategic priorities despite shifting community contexts.
Results-Oriented Execution: The ability to navigate complex challenges and adapt strategic approaches to drive progress effectively. It requires keeping big-picture outcomes clearly in focus while strictly maintaining disciplines around task management and action tracking.
Strong Written and Verbal Communication Skills: The ability to clearly articulate complex regional education initiatives across various communication channels, tailoring messaging to fit diverse audiences, manage partner communications, and engage community stakeholders effectively.

Responsibilities

Directly supervise UP Partnership staff dedicated to high school completion, postsecondary, & workforce pathway.
Support the Managing Director in the supervision and coordination of contractors and consultants aligned to portfolio priorities.
Support strategic planning, implementation tracking, and special projects connected to organizational impact goals.
Maintain operational and strategic coordination with fellow Directors and Managing Directors to ensure alignment across organizational priorities and the Future Ready framework.
Establish clear performance metrics, milestones, and accountability structures for team members and initiatives.
Ensure strong project management systems, documentation practices, and follow-through across all portfolio workstreams.
Provide coaching and professional development, ensuring team members receive both the leadership support they need for current initiatives and the leadership development required for future growth.
Maintain ownership of portfolio outcomes, team culture, and cross-functional collaboration.
Ensure high-quality, high-integrity engagement with school systems, higher education institutions, workforce organizations, employers, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders connected to the Future Ready Plan and the departments focus.
Oversee initiatives focused on high school completion, postsecondary enrollment, workforce readiness, and pathway alignment, strengthening institutional partnerships and supporting execution of shared strategic priorities.
Convene and support collaboratives, workgroups, and communities of practice focused on advising, accelerated pathways, workforce alignment, educational attainment, and student success. These groups can change based on community direction.
Work closely with other UP Partnership initiatives and networks to align strategy implementation and reduce fragmentation across systems.
Support internal and external strategic planning efforts through partnership development, facilitation, and collaborative design.
Coordinate with Communications staff to ensure alignment of messaging, partner communications, and public-facing materials related to portfolio initiatives.
Support alignment of advocacy and systems-change efforts across partners and initiatives where appropriate.
Lead the advancement and continuous improvement of UP Partnership’s strategies related to high school completion, postsecondary success, workforce readiness, and pathway alignment within the Future Ready framework.
Serve as an organizational thought partner and advisor on educational attainment, advising systems, accelerated coursework, career-connected learning, and workforce pathways.
Support development and implementation of strategies designed to improve student transitions from K-12 to postsecondary education and into the workforce.
Advance collaborative efforts that align educational systems with regional workforce needs and high-opportunity career pathways.
Lead the design and facilitation of learning agendas, partner convenings, and collaborative improvement cycles related to the portfolio.
Monitor initiative progress, analyze data trends, and support continuous improvement efforts aligned to organizational and community outcomes.
Manage relevant contractors and support grant management, reporting requirements, and communications deliverables in partnership with internal departments.
Manage portfolio budgets, forecasting, grant deliverables, and resource tracking.
Strengthen and support internal systems, operational processes, and cross-functional workflows.
Support fundraising efforts, grant writing, and organizational growth planning connected to portfolio priorities.
Maintain an attitude of ownership, adaptability, and continuous improvement.
Positively contribute to organizational culture and model UP Partnership values.
Lead and/or support additional organizational priorities and initiatives as needed.